Number One
by thegeckotragedy
Summary: Agent Texas had been the worst, certainly, but not the first to challenge Carolina's position.
1. Roads to Greatness

Agent Texas was inhuman, thus inevitably unbeatable.

In Agent Carolina there was a fire so great that almost any variable not acting in her favor was devoid of impact, and as the years went on experience and confidence only aided her success.

She had a knack for improvisation as well, but Agent Delaware had something else entirely, a creativity bordering on strange that, combined with a seemingly endless luck, had made for a striking effectiveness.

Which, of course, was not to say Delaware lacked skill, for in fact xe was an excellent fighter and possessed every ounce of gifted stature that Carolina had to make up for in speed and accuracy. Truly, when it came to certain things they may as well have been the same soldier. And what a grand soldier that would have been, perhaps it would have been better like that.

But Del and Carolina were very different people.

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**Alright so this story came from me wondering A. if Carolina had truly gone her entire career in Project Freelancer as the undisputed best agent until Tex came along, and B. what kind of person could have rivaled her and how that rivalry would have ended. It will probably be pretty short, as I won't drag out individual events longer than they have to be. Thank you for reading!**


	2. Act I: Part 1

The leaderboard was updated that day.

1. Agent Carolina

2. Agent York

3. Agent Georgia

4. Agent North

5. Agent South

6. Agent Maine

7. Agent Connecticut

8. Agent Wyoming

9. Agent Delaware

10. Agent Florida

A new freelancer, clad in green and yellow, had arrived to the Mother of Invention several weeks ago and today reported to the training floor where their scheduled match with Agent Maine was to transpire. He was a common opponent for recruits of higher expectations, and it had become a tradition for the top members of the leaderboard to place minor bets on the armor they'd be observing in action in the hours leading up to the match, since most newcomers were never seen until their debut combat sessions. More often than not the turnout was standard issue MKVI in some boring color and most bet accordingly, but the reward of being that one person who put their money on Recon shoulder plates or a Scout helmet was immense and the gutsy were eager to take that chance. That is to say, Georgia and South were eager to take that chance.

Today there were very few victories. This was one of the weirdest combinations they'd seen yet. Rogue helmet, Scout shoulders and a Mark VI chest plate? It didn't necessarily look awkward, but it had them squinting down at the figure from the observation deck. Carolina, leaning against the wall, hummed briefly to herself, feeling the shallowest and elementary of connections to the stranger below. Rogue helmets were pretty rare aboard the Mother. She had a good feeling about this one despite the fact that she'd never admit to such a thing.

"Commencing match between Agent Maine and Agent Delaware," F.I.L.S.S.' calm voice came over the intercom. "Round begin."

Delaware twirled the pugil stick a few times to get a sense of its weight, falling into a light-footed but stable stance as Maine didn't wait before charging at xem, readying his swing far sooner than he had to. It didn't take a genius to sum up Maine: heavy. Ducking to dodge the first hit, Delaware first slammed xyr weapon into the side of his helmet, disorienting him enough that xe had time to take out his knees and bring him to the ground.

Eyebrows were raised back up in the observation deck, hopes rising that they'd found a worthwhile new edition. "Pretty good," North commented, with all the optimism he held for every new recruit.

Maine didn't stay down very long, fists clenching around his pugil stick as he rose. This time it was Delaware to act first, utilizing xyr advantage in earnest by dancing circles around the larger agent, getting in small but meaningful hits and never giving him the opportunity to properly strike back. One compromising step and Maine found himself felled by his own body mass again, this time as Delaware brought down the stick hard onto his collapsing form.

"Round over. Point awarded to Agent Delaware. Pugil sticks training complete. Hand to hand combat beginning in five, four..."

"Makes sense," Carolina spoke up in her cocky-but-she's-earned-it-so-you-can't-say-anything voice, "Those armor pieces are all the least bulky parts that you can get your hands on. Delaware's after mobility."

"Well he's got it," York chuckled lightly. "Really, this guy's got it made up against Maine."

"Not a guy," South corrected, "Heard they were genderqueer. Not sure what the pronoun situation is, though." North nodded in acknowledgement and everyone else turned their attention back to the training floor.

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**I decided to split up the match against Maine in an effort to keep chapters short so that I can update more often. Feedback is appreciated; Thank you for reading!**


	3. Act I: Part 2

Delaware was bouncing on the balls of xyr feet and one could just feel the grin xyr helmet hid. Maine, too, was feeling a slight confidence boost, knowing that there were now no electrified weapons to amplify his opponent's undeniably inferior strength. As was his unshakeable strategy, he lunged first, into the waiting knee strike of the green agent, who then switched feet and kicked him an impressive distance given the circumstances. Del ducked once again to dodge the next group of hits, this time headbutting him in the stomach, punching him in the same spot several times with more power than the spectators above had expected, and finishing him off with an elbow strike to the back.

"Round over. Point awarded to Agent Delaware. Hand to hand combat complete. Resetting training floor for lockdown paint simulation. Round begin in ten..."

North was chuckling excitedly, and most of the rest of them were at least smirking at this point. A few of them looked to each other, but none said anything. They didn't need to.

After loading their paint guns, the two freelancers stood on opposite sides of the room, moving behind the nearest block as F.I.L.S.S. began the round. Del wasted no time in weaving xyr way forward, smiling widely as the first shot whirred past their head. Maine couldn't resist revealing himself, it seemed, and it seemed also that Delaware was finished messing around, because there wasn't even a fight this time. He was down in seconds. Next round wasn't much different.

The third and final round, Maine was determined, however, and managed to get a nice shot in that got Del in the leg, putting an end to the previous speed advantage xe'd had. It looked like he was going to win this one, finally, and the agents watching were already making little disappointed noises to themselves, with the exception of Carolina, who was simply waiting to see how Delaware would turn it around.

Xe chucked xyr own weapon at his helmet, punched the gun out of his hand, and promptly shot him several times with it.

"Round over. Point awarded to Agent Delaware. Final score is: 6 points Delaware, 0 points Maine. Congratulations, Agent Delaware," F.I.L.S.S. chimed.

Delaware had proven xemself to be good. It earned them the spot of number nine on the leaderboard, under every agent who had proven themselves in an legitimate combat situation, and above Florida, who had recently made a rather large mistake and been shamed as well as moved down a rank. It was for this reason that it was unexpected, but not surprising, when they saw Del's name on the roster for their next mission.

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**Next chapter will be longer and will include Delaware's first interactions with the top freelancers. Reviews are very much appreciated. Thank you for reading!**


	4. Act I: Part 3

The leaderboard was updated that day.

1. Agent Carolina

2. Agent York

3. Agent South

4. Agent North

5. Agent Wyoming

6. Agent Georgia

7. Agent Delaware

8. Agent Connecticut

9. Agent Maine

10. Agent Florida

It was infiltration but it was inevitably going to be bloody. There was little stealth for them to pull off, the place was flooded with guards and there were no weak spots in security. Carolina, York, Georgia, South, and Delaware were to get through however they had to, and the primary objective was for Carolina alone to obtain while the rest stood guard outside the room and bought her time and scoped out an escape route. A trust thing, they supposed, since the rest of them were all relatively new agents compared to her.

"Yes sir, Director," they'd said in unison, with synchronized salutes, and then turned to Delaware, because that was the first time they'd actually heard xyr voice, which was modified by their armor into a somewhat buzzing gender neutral tone. Xe looked back at them, blinking behind their helmet, and the awkwardness faded soon enough.

On the Pelican ride xe ran through their pronoun conjugation, and proved to be a pretty agreeable person. The unwavering loyalty with which xe'd uttered 'boss' in reference to Carolina had her lips twitching ever-so-slightly upward; it was a title that had yet to get old.

479er dropped them off as discreetly as she could, and they still hit the ground running, quite literally. Georgia tripped. Carolina, covered by York though she probably didn't need it, tore through everything important and South and Del took down everyone else that got too close for comfort, South with a shotgun and Del with grenades and a magnum.

"God! These guys are assholes, huh?" South shouted over to xem.

"Indeed!" Del replied, and then laughed, as if xe'd just been won the lottery and couldn't believe xyr fortune.

Their progress was halted when they reached a particularly large door in the facility and York got to work as swiftly as he could while the rest of the agents turned around to face their accumulating opposition.

"Shit," South cursed in angry bewilderment. Georgia whipped his head towards Carolina. "What now, 'Lina?" he asked expectantly.

Carolina looked around the room, finding nothing with potential use, all the while shooting down as many adversaries as she could. Granted, her improvising hadn't been what it was today, and things didn't look great. From her right, Delaware nudged her soundlessly, pointing to a series of large crates stored on shelves a great deal above them. To bring them down would not only take out a great deal of soldiers but also create a sort of barricade to block shots from the larger weapons set up from a distance. Carolina wasted no time it whipping out her grappling hook, throwing all of her weight into disrupting the shelves enough that they tilted towards the freelancers but didn't fall entirely.

"Thank jesus," Georgia muttered, turning his full attention back to fighting.

When they'd all gotten through the door and York had shut it hastily behind them, Carolina slapped a hand to Del's shoulder as she passed. "Good work, Delaware." The freelancer in question only nodded in response. She didn't take it offensively, being used to Maine's quiet tendencies. There was certainly already enough noise in the top ten.

The next few hallways were considerably smaller than the initial wide spaces they'd had to navigate, a blessing that ended all too soon, right before the room housing the primary objective. A tank welcomed them with open arms. Arms that took the form of brutal fire scarcely missing the group.

"How the shit are we supposed to take out a tank?!" Georgia's voice all but cracked as another shot came flying their way.

"We don't have to," Carolina told him over the blaring chaos echoing through the steel walls that surrounded them, "All we have to do is kill the person operating it."

With that, her grappling hook was out again, and she only shouted, "Distract'm for me!" over her shoulder as she shot it to the ceiling and swung herself across the vast room in a matter of seconds. Georgia was quick to comply, elbowing Delaware for a grenade which he threw towards the vehicle at such an angle that it forced the tank to shoot it down before dealing with the cyan-armored soldier who'd already found cover anyway. York had taken the time to run in the opposite direction of Carolina's incomplete assault, and fired at the driver with no attention to accuracy, jumping into a roll to avoid the shot that came his way. Carolina shot down the soldier in the tank within the next ten seconds, and barked at the group to keep moving as she ran to catch up with them, since at this time she had only her cloaking unit to assist her.

The door to the target room was a bitch, in every sense of the word, and it was a solid five minutes before York was able to get it open, in which the freelancers once again found themselves surrounded by enemies. Carolina rushed to get to work while the rest of them fought off their adversaries, already calling for evac. She exited the room with a flash disk tucked into a compartment in her armor, Del threw a grenade at the side of the building, effectively earning them a path of escape, and York, Georgia, and South held their positions for a moment longer before following their leader out of the facility and back into the Pelican, where it was confirmed that no one was particularly wounded.

The Director was pleased with their work, as was Carolina.

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**Admittedly I felt like there could have been a bit more character interaction in this one, but I will try to amend that in the next chapter and please tell me what you think! Reviews are very much appreciated, and as always, thank you for reading.**


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